


Keeping The Fire

by Diomedea (RedQueenSang)



Series: Fire [1]
Category: Firefly
Genre: Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2014-06-08
Packaged: 2017-12-04 08:58:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/708929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedQueenSang/pseuds/Diomedea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An alternate universe retelling of Firefly, where the Big Damn Heroes pick up passengers on Serenity, knowing that Simon Tam had rescued his sister from unknown "tortures" done by the Alliance, when the people who helped Simon get River out ask Mal to help them finish the job, and how that change affects the characters we all know and love. (Will eventually be Mal/River, but it's going to take awhile. Canon pairings for AT LEAST the first half of the chapters.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meishan Waves

Malcolm Reynolds stood on the bridge of his ship, staring down at the wave in front of him. The woman on the screen wasn’t anyone he had anticipated seeing again, unless it was on a broadwave. “Meishan Connolly,” he said, leaning back with amusement. “Never thought I’d be talking to you again. What can I do for you?”  
  
“Sarge,” Meishan said, with a cocksure grin and a little salute, and a nod to his first mate, standing beside him. “Zo’.”  
  
“Meishan.” Zoe answered, with some real warmth in her voice, much to the surprise of her husband, sitting in the pilot’s seat.  
  
“Got a job needs a transport ship, Sarge, thought of you and yours right off.” Meishan said, with a sparkle in her brown eyes that worried the two who knew her.  
  
“Did you now?” Mal asked, not letting his concern show. He knew what Meishan had gotten into after the war, and as they spoke, he was heading on a salvage mission, not legal, but fair pay without terrorism. Meishan was pretty far up in the _Hóng Yǔ_ Syndicate, which was a thorn in the Alliance’s side Mal had no notions of poking. “I thought we had discussed before that some kinds of business we ain’t interested in.”  
  
“This is different, Sarge.” Meishan said, tenting her fingers. “We’re rescuing a girl being experimented on and tortured. There’s no destruction or killing planned. S’all being financed and carried out by her brother -- straight-up high class Core, him. We can get ‘em to the border, we were thinking Albion or Persephone, but you know we don’t leave the Core, and a lot of people don’t like us having this job, they rather see something that has more of an...effect.” She sighed. "Most of my people, they just want to get her out and let him on his own. Me, I don't see shooting the wolves and then leaving the sheep for the coyotes."  
  
Mal was listening, though he didn’t really want to be. He tried his hardest to leave the war and sides behind, but torturing girls, well that was something he didn’t hold with, whether it was slavers or the Alliance. “And what, exactly, would we be doing in this job of yours, Meishan?”  
  
Meishan shrugged. “You’d be picking up the brother and sister, and taking ‘em out as far in the Rim as is habitable. Depending how damaged the girl is when we get her out, she may be in cryo, so she can recover from all the _hún dàns_  did to her. He’s enough credits to make it worthwhile.”  
  
Mal looked at Zoe. He didn’t normally pass up a job, especially one that had credits passing into his hand as payment right away, or near enough to it that there was more risk of getting shot than not getting paid. This however, was different, and he didn’t want his grudges, morals, and the fact that someone he served with was asking, to be the only factors in the decision. The slight inclination of Zoe's head, though, was enough to keep him from worrying overmuch.  
  
“We’ll take it. We’ve a job that will be taking us to Persephone in a few days time, so I conjure we could take on some passengers, give us some cover, an’ give your Core-friend a lift, but if my merc so much as smells explosive powder...” He gave the former corporal a dark look. “But you know no one steps on my boat, I don’t meet ‘em, and I don’t hold with slave traders, so if she’s in cryo, she better be awake and willing by the time we get where they’re going, or we’ll toss your Core boy in the airlock, fair?”  
  
“ _Xiè xie_ , Sarge.” Meishan said with a little laugh, and a little wave to Zoe. “Zoe.”  
  
“Meishan.” Zoe said with a nod.  
  
Malcolm Reynolds turned, shaking his head and wondered what, exactly he was signing up for.


	2. Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon and Meishan arrive at the docks and Mal learns why he was asked to do this mission.

The drop of the marked goods to Badger had gone less than smooth, and Mal was anxious to get his crew off planet.He didn’t often let himself doubt his decisions once they had been made, but knowing that he was taking on fugitives and passengers on top of marked cargo was not a comforting feeling. Arriving back at the ship with Jayne and Zoe, he was relieved to find that Meishan had not yet arrived. He trusted her, but it had been a long time since she had been under his command, and she had been one of the few Independents who had come from a Core planet and integrated back into one seamlessly. Despite that, she had never given up the war.

The sight of her on across the docksmade him take a double-take. “Zo’?” He whispered in surprise, wanting confirmation of what his eyes were seeing. Approaching them was a finely-dressed young man in a silk vest and expensive trousers, pushing a cryo-box, and at his side was an Asian woman dressed so richly she could have passed for a companion.

“That’s Meishan, Sir.” Zoe said, surprise leaking into even her voice.

Mal had to shake his head and blink several times as they approached. The woman in a blue and green qípáo looked nothing like the Independant soldier who had fallen under his command at Serenity Valley, who had given her fellow soldiers her own blood to drink to keep them from starving. It was mighty disconcerting.

“She’s awfully pretty.” Kaylee said, twirling her paper parasol. “But I bet Zoe would look just as good in a fancy dress like that.”

“I do like some slink.” Zoe said thoughtfully.

“Now you stop trying to girlify my first mate, Kaylee.” Mal said, rather failing at being gruff. “Don’t you have passengers to find?”

“Gotta meet these first, Cap’n.” Kaylee said,with a smile. “Else how am i gonna know what kind of other passengers to get?”

Mal made a face at Kaylee. “Them as can pay, no sob stories this run.”

“ _Xie xie_ , Cap’n.” The bright-eyed engineer made no indication of moving, however, as the pair they had been watching through the crowd had finally jostled their way to the ship through the crowds all around the dock.

“Oh, I do like this one...” Meishan said, her voice sounding pure Core. “Don’t you think, dear?”

The young man looked just as uncomfortable with the endearment as Mal felt, despite both of them knowing it was a cover. “Perhaps.” He said thoughtfully.

Kaylee, of course, little ball of sunshine she was, had to draw them in with a big smile. “Serenity’s the best ship you’ll find at these docks!” She enthused. “Safest ride to the outer rings you’ll ever find.” She gestured to herself. “I’m Kaylee, the engineer, and this here’ our captain and first mate, Mal and Zoe.”

The young man seemed a bit bowled over by Kaylee’s enthusiasm, but Meishan covered for them both. “Oh aren’t you charming.” She looked at Mal, hiding a wink. “Might we have a tour?”

“I think we can arrange that.” Mal said after a moment, relaxing somewhat at the wink. “Follow me, and I’ll show you around.”

Mal led Meishan and the young man into the ship, where the act quickly fell apart as soon as Zoe had ensured there were no bugs and secured the large crate carefully in the hold. He led them to the mess, where he kicked out a chair. “I reckon we have some things to catch up on.”

Meishan laughed, and visibly relaxed, and when she did, Mal could see the person he knew underneath. “Same old sarge. Heya Zoe.”

“Meishan.” Mal said, snapping his fingers in impatience, something he hadn’t done for a long time, a habit of his from when he had been in the army. Still, she seemed to remember it, relaxing into the chair as if she was dressed in uniform, instead of like the fancy lady she was dressed up to be. It was better, helped him relax.

Meishan nodded, all business. “We’ve been following Alliance plans for a little while. We knew they were taking gifted people, right proper geniuses, to experiment on, and we’ve been trying to get in, but we were having an issue with funds.” She gestured to Simon. “Simon here got a coded letter from his sister, and started trying to find a way to get her out. He found us.”

“What were they trying to do?” Zoe asked, breaking her silence.

“Near as we can figure, create super-people. Super-soldiers maybe, but the war's over.” Meishan answered honestly. “Improve on nature by experimenting and torturing children whose only crime was being too smart.”

“How smart are we talking? Mal asked, deliberately avoiding the anger that came to mind about experimenting on children.”how’d his sister get wrapped up in this?”

Simon took that as his time to speak, and cleared his throat. “I am very smart. I went to the best Medacad in Osiris, top three percent of my class, finished my internship in eight months.” He took off his dark glasses and looked right at Mal, hoping that his seriousness would get through to him. “"Gifted" is the term. So when I tell you that my little sister makes me look like an idiot child, I want you to understand my full meaning.” He trailed off slightly, as if trying to find the right words. “River was more than gifted. She...she was a gift. Everything she did, music, math, theoretical physics --even...even dance -- there was nothing that didn't come as naturally to her as breathing does to us.” He smiled, getting lost in some small memory. “She could be a real... brat about it, too. I mean, she used to --”

“Simon.” Meishan said, drawing him out of the reverie. “We only have so much time.”

“Of course,” Simon said, shaking himself. “My apologies. There was a... a school... a, uh, a government-sponsored academy, we had never even heard of it but it had the most exciting program, the most challenging. We could have sent her anywhere, we had the money, but she wanted to go. She wanted to learn. She was fourteen.”

“We believe that’s average for this place.” Meishan put in as Simon took a deep breath. “Get them while the brain is still developing, make it easier to experiment on them, but ensure they’re old enough for some of them to survive.”

Simon continued, though his voice was strained. “I got a few letters at first, and then I

didn't hear for months. Finally I got a letter that made no sense. She...she talked about things that never happened, jokes we never... it was code. It just said: ”They’re hurting us. Get me out.”

“How’d you do it?” Zoe asked.

Meishan answered then. “Simon was trying for two years before we found him. He  had money, and he gave us a specific name to find. With that, we were able to plan the escape, sneak her out in cryo and get her here.”She made a face. “Most of my compatriots felt that while it was a good cause, if it didn’t bring attention to what was going on, it wasn’t worth the time. I wanted to make sure they got out of the Core.”

“Which is where we come in.” Mal said, speaking the obvious.

“Which is where you come in.” Meishan agreed.

“Zo’, why don’t you take Simon down to the passenger dorms.” Mal said simply. “I want to have a word with Meishan.”

When the room was empty, he looked at the soldier-turned-terrorist. “is she going to be a threat to me and mine when she’s out of that box?”

Meishan shook her head. “I don’t believe so, not as long as she doesn’t think you’re a threat.” She smiled wanly. “You’re a good man, Sarge. That’s why I needed you for this.”

“Why?” Mal asked. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Meishan shook her head. “We don’t know what all they did to her. Right now she’s the same age I was when I ran off with my father’s gun to join the Independents. The Alliance have been brutalising her worse than we ever saw in the war. I need someone who, if it comes down to it, understands mercy.”

“You mean someone who can put a bullet in her.” Mal said, reading between the lines.

“if it becomes necessary.” Meishan agreed. “I don’t think it will, not with one of the Core’s up and coming young doctors devoted to her care, but it’s possible.”

Mal nodded, serious. “But that’s the last option. We try everything else first.”

“Which is why it had to be you.” Meishan said, standing.


	3. Passengers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mal meets his other passengers, and things start to go pear-shaped.

Zoe helped Simon square away his cargo, as a cheerful Kaylee ushered their new passengers on board. “Now we have a boatful of citizens right on top of our stolen cargo and Meishan’s...friends.” She paused, giving Mal a look. “That’s a fun mix.”

Mal leaned back slightly, fingers looped in his suspenders. “If he’s really as smart as he sounds, he’ll keep to himself, an’ ain’t no way in the ‘verse they could find that compartment…” He paused slightly as one of the passengers walked past him and lowered his voice slightly. “Even if they were looking for it.”

Zoe raised an eyebrow at her captain. “Why not?”

Mal didn’t have an answer, but he had to answer, so he went with what had always worked for his ma. “‘Cause.”

Unfortunately, Zoe wasn’t like farmhands who would take that as an answer, or even a young Mal who would stomp off in the other direction. “Oh yeah, this is gonna go great.”

Mal couldn’t help but admit she had a point, without so many words. “If anyone gets nosy, just, y’know...shoot 'em.”

“Shoot ‘em?” Zoe repeated, amusement appearing under her voice.

“Politely!” Mal finished, walking about the bay until Inara’s shuttle returned and they could take off from the disappointing planet. Things never went smooth, and there was an added weight on his shoulders in the form of a silver cryo-box, and why Meishan had asked him to do this job.

* * *

 The passengers were a motley crew, and Mal wasn’t sure what in the ‘verse possessed Kaylee to invite a gorram preacher aboard his boat, but they needed the coin, and hell, a preacher might not be bad cover if they were buzzed by the Alliance. Wouldn’t take much away from having an Alliance science experiment onboard, but if they didn’t look hard, it couldn’t hurt, even if it made his skin crawl.

“I’ll take those of you who need to get effects down to the cargo bay, Zoe, why don’t you make sure we’re on schedule for Whitefall, so we can get these good people off to Boros as soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir.” Zoe agreed, and as she went up to the bridge, Mal led the rest back down to the bay, standing guard beside the silver cryo-box, and keeping a keen eye on the compartment with the scavenged cargo in it.

Simon hesitated after going through his bag, looking at Mal, as if he wanted to check the box, but Mal inclined his head sternly, not even a shake. It wouldn’t do to make people suspicious, even just people like this. He looked at his watch, trying to signal that he would let the Core doctor check later, and watching the other two carefully. He trusted no one but his crew with his ship, paying passengers or not. He’d sleep better when they were gone.

* * *

 After a dinner that was just as awkward as it was filled with fresh produce instead of protein mush, Mal allowed himself to relax, just slightly, and let the doctor go tend to the cryo-box. He seemed nice-enough, if a bit starched, but he’d be happier when he had seen the back of him. Kaylee was sweet, and obviously had taken a shine to the rich boy, and he didn’t want to encourage her when this was only a stop for the man and his sister. He didn’t need no more connections to ‘em than he already had.

Wash’s message though, in that tone which was serious rather than playful had him taking the stairs two at a time, wondering what the best scenario would be in this situation. “What is it?” He asked, practically before he was through the door.

Wash turned in his chair. “Signal. Somebody went on the Cortex, hailed the nearest Alliance Cruiser.”

Yeah, that wasn’t on his top three good reasons to be called to the bridge at the moment. Or ever, really. “Tell me you scrambled it.”

“All to hell, but I don't know how much got through. Alliance got a pin in us for sure.” Wash muttered.

Mal wiped a hand over his face, trying to decide what to do, cursing seemed like the best option, at least until he could think. “Nǐ tāmāde, tiānxià suǒyǒu de rén dōu gāi sǐ.” Meishan would never pull him into an Alliance trap. She might be core, but she had balls, and she had served with him. She had vouched for the man with the cryo-box, which was reason enough to trust him. That left two options. His own biases pushed him toward the preacher of a god who had never answered his prayers, but he knew what was more likely. The question was, which cargo was he after? The scavenge or the girl?

He took the stairs to the bay as quick as he could without alerting anyone, and found the doc where he had left him. The pretty boy looked up in surprise, and Mal pulled out his revolver. “We got a mole on board.” He said in a low undertone, repeating Wash’s words.

“What?!” Simon said, raising his voice slightly. “You swore you’d help us…”

“And I will.” Mal said quietly. “We don’t know what he’s after. Could be scavenge. Let’s not get all exciteful yet.”

“I’d say we could all do to calm down.” The shepherd’s voice came across the bay, and when Mal looked behind him, where the shepherd was gesturing, he saw the man holding a gun on him. “Son of a bitch.”

Dobson looked like a man who had never shot a man before, green and loyal, the worst kind of shooter to be facing, right after experienced and unemotional. “Drop the firearm, Captain Reynolds.”

Mal let the firearm slip from his grip, and skid across the floor. “You want to tell me why you’re pointing a gun at me on my boat?”

“You think I'm a complete backbirth? You're carrying a fugitive across interplanetary borders, and you think I actually believe you're bringing medical supplies to Whitefall? As far as I care, everyone on this ship is culpable.” Dobson said, his voice getting loud, as he twitched like a drunk in need of beer. “Simon Tam, you are bound by law to stand down.”

Simon’s eyes went wide, like a man who had never had a gun pointed in his direction before. “Lawman, you are making a mistake…”

“Get on the ground! Get on the ground!” Dobson demanded, sweat beading his brow as Simon didn’t move.

“I think you best get on the ground, son. The man seems a mite twitchy.” Mal suggested, trying to make the doctor understand. Apparently he didn’t, because he gave Mal a betrayed look.

Mal glanced down at the gun, and Simon seemed to get it, because he dropped to the grime-covered floor.

The fed moved toward the box as Mal slowly dropped to his knees, hoping they taught doctors how to pull a trigger in those fancified Core schools.

The fed pushed at the lid, and Simon began to panic. “No don’t open…!” He suddenly remembered the gun in front of him and scrambled for it as the silver lid went back, trying to hit the man.

It all happened so fast, Mal wasn’t sure what happened first. The lid slid off the box, the bullet hit Dobson in what looked like the knee, he turned and fired a panicked shot, just as Kaylee came into the bay to figure out what was going on, and she went down, as a gasping, screaming girl emerged from the box.

Mal skidded from his knees to slide into the fed, who already injured, went down, grabbing his gun. “Doc, see to Kaylee!” He commanded. “I’ll see to your sister!”

Simon spared a glance between the two girls, but as the rest of the crew came out into the bay, he saw Jayne pointing a gun at him, and quickly headed to the cheerful girl with the sweet smile, transitioning to doctor, and having the shepherd and companion help get her to the infirmary, glancing back over his shoulder as he saw the Captain wrap his sister in his jacket, and her screaming stop.

River would be okay. She _had_ to be okay. They had gotten this far. They would escape, and he would be able to fix her. He had to.


End file.
